Manfred's comments came after Bloomberg reported a group led by former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush won an auction for the team with a $1.3 billion bid.

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Completion of any sale by Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria could take months and would require approval by at least 75 percent of major league teams. More than half of the winning bid could involve cash because of MLB's debt service rule, meaning the Bush/Jeter group would need to raise a lot of money.

Quogue Capital investment fund founder Wayne Rothbaum has also pursued the Marlins, and talks with him might be restarted if the deal with the Bushes and Jeter stalls.

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AP Sports Writers Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.